


Hyde and Seek

by Windwakingwebslinger



Category: That '70s Show
Genre: Bath, Childhood Friends, Drugs, First Kiss, First Love, Flashbacks, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Marijuana, Questions, Smoking, Weed, first
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 12:36:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17203529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Windwakingwebslinger/pseuds/Windwakingwebslinger
Summary: When the group is reminiscing on picture day, Eric wonders why Hyde continued to hang out with him after their first meeting. The answer to that question may change everything.





	1. Bath Time

Eric sat with his friends at school, trying to figure out a good quote for the yearbook. Thinking of the times they had all shared together, Eric couldn’t help but talk about how he and Hyde had met.  
The first time Eric met Hyde, they were 9.  
Getting kicked around by that new red-headed girl next door was not something Eric had expected that day at school. Being as small as he was, there was always someone around trying to beat the crap out of him. But that day, there was someone there to save his sorry ass. Hyde. It was unconventional, a boy getting saved from an ass kicking by another boy, but that was exactly what happened. Eric’s new next-door neighbor, Donna, had punched him. Being hit was not something new for Eric but being hit by a girl certainly was. Laying on the ground, Eric waited for another hit, but it never came. He looked up and saw a boy standing above him, offering him a hand. Eric took it gladly and got to his feet.  
“Where’d the girl go?”, he asked, not wanting to be caught off guard.  
“Told her to beat it”  
“Oh” came Eric’s soft voice. “Thanks, I guess”  
“Whatever, later” said the boy.  
“Wait, could you walk me home? That girl who punched me lives next door and I’d rather not get hit again today.” Eric asked sheepishly. Why had he asked that? Looking at the boy, he should be just as frightened of him as he was Donna. The boy was filthy. His clothes looked like old hand-me-downs, ratty and torn and just as dirty as the boy was. His hair was unkempt, a curly afro that haloed around his head. But the thing was, the boy didn’t frighten Eric. I mean, he had just saved him from further humiliation of getting his ass kicked by a girl.  
“Uh, yeah, sure. But you owe me a quarter” was all the reply that Eric got.  
“Thanks”  
And then they were off in the direction of Eric’s house. They walked in silence down the street. Eric didn’t live too far from the elementary school, but it was nice to have someone to walk with, even if the boy next to him never said a word until they reached Eric’s driveway. Eric turned to thank him and realized that he knew the boy his name was Steven. They were in the same class, and he was always getting into trouble with the teacher.  
“Thanks for walking me home Steven, that red-headed girl hits really hard.”  
“Some advice? Never let a girl stand on your head like that. Bad for the rep.”  
“Okay Steven”  
“And its Hyde”  
“Thanks Hyde. Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if my last name was Seek? You know, Hyde and Seek?”  
“That’s stupid, and you owe me a quarter”  
Eric handed Hyde the quarter, thankful that he made it home without getting punched again, especially after his stupid joke. Just then Eric’s mother walked out of the house and into the driveway where the boys were standing.  
“Well now,” Kitty said, crouching next to her son. “Who do we have here?”  
“This is Hyde” Eric stated.  
“Aw, you have a new little friend. Red, get the camera.” Kitty gushed.  
“I’m not his friend. I’m a hired gun.”  
Red finally spoke up, “Kitty, don’t embarrass the boy.”  
“Well don’t be silly, its nice to have a new friend. Especially one whose so,” Kitty licked her finger and rubbed some dirt off Hyde’s cheek “dirty.” Kitty laughed nervously, and Eric was unsure as to why.  
“You know what’s fun?” Kitty said.  
And that was how the two boys ended up in the tub together, bubbles surrounding them, and with Red looking down at the two of them.  
“I’m sorry son” was all he said. Red exited the bathroom, leaving the two boys alone, waiting for Kitty to return.  
“If you ever tell anyone about this, I’ll kill you.” Hyde told Eric. All Eric could think to do in response was offer the ruby ducky that had been sitting at the edge of the tub. Hyde smacked the rubber duck out of his hand, flinging bubbles into the air along with the offending rubber duck.  
The fact that Hyde continued to hang out with Eric after that was nothing short of astounding.


	2. Secrets

“Now I have to kill you.” Hyde said as Eric finished telling his story.

“But seriously Hyde, why did you even talk to me after that?”

“I knew that if I didn’t, Donna would kick your ass again” Hyde laughed. The rest of the group joined him. Eric sputtered, trying to defend himself even though he knew that Hyde was right.

It still bothered Eric though, why had Hyde stuck around? He would have to ask Hyde later, when it was just the two of them. Hyde never was very serious when surrounded by their friends, he didn’t want to seem like a wuss. But when it was just Hyde and Eric though, Hyde talked. Getting him to share his feelings with Eric had been much like pulling teeth initially, as Hyde would always skirt around the questions that Eric asked him, making jokes just like he was now. But then his mom had left him, and Hyde had moved in with the Formans. When Hyde had moved in, he had started cleaning and helping around the house, even volunteering to take on chores that were given to Eric. Eric couldn’t understand his friends’ actions, and eventually confronted him about Hyde making Eric look bad in comparison.

“I’m a guest, Forman. If I don’t do something, your parents are gonna kick me out man.”

“Hyde, that’s not gonna happen. My parents aren’t like that. Sure, Red is a real hard-ass but he’s not going to just kick you out unless you do something really stupid.”

After their conversation, something in Hyde had changed, and now Eric couldn’t get Hyde to stop sharing. They had talked about how abandoned Hyde had felt when Edna had left, and how she had never been much of a mother to Hyde anyway. How that first week in the Forman house had been for both Eric and Hyde when they had argued, and how unwanted Hyde had felt until living with the Formans. How Kitty was the mother that Hyde had always wanted, and how glad he was that she kind of was his mother now. They talked about so many things, with and without the help of weed and booze. Some nights they would stay up talking all night in the basement, or in Eric’s room.

Coming back to the present, Eric’s eyes met Hyde’s. Even though they were hidden by his sunglasses, Eric knew that Hyde understood what Eric had been thinking about. Instances like these had become commonplace for the two boys, as the years had taught them how to speak without having to say a word. Hyde’s eyes said, “We’ll talk later.”

The rest of the day dragged on, with Eric waiting for his friends to leave the basement so that he could talk to Hyde. His question about why Hyde had stuck around after that first day had been consuming his thoughts, and Eric eagerly awaited the chance to finally gain an answer. Eric glanced at Hyde sitting in his usual chair and noticed that Hyde looked nervous. Well, nervous for Hyde.

Hyde always had this air of aloofness around him, always trying to seem zen around the rest of the group. It was funny, Eric had always assumed that the way Hyde acted in front of people was just the way that he was. A closed off, sarcastic asshole who was always looking for ways to amuse himself, even at the expense of their friends. But now, knowing what Eric knew, he could see through Hyde’s façade clear as day. To their friends, Hyde looked as zen as ever. Eric, however, could feel the tension rolling off Hyde’s body, and could see Hyde’s eyes quickly glancing at Eric from behind his sunglasses.

Eric realized that Hyde was nervous because of _him_. Now that was unusual. He would find out why soon enough as Kelso and Fez finally got up and waved their goodbyes. Now alone, Hyde let his cool demeanor fall. He sighed shakily, running his hand through his curls.

“Hyde, what’s wrong?” Eric asked.

“Man, you’ve been staring holes into the back of my head all day.” Hyde said, still trying to evade the question that he knew would come anyway.

“Look man, I just wanna know why you still even hung out with me after my mom stuck us in that tub together.”

“I just…” Hyde trailed off, “the fact that your mom took time to take care of me that day, it made me want to have more of what you had. A mother who gave a shit about you, who made sure that you were clean and cared for.”

“…is that all?” Eric asked, “then why have you been so nervous all day today? What, did you think I was going to ask you if you, like, fell in love with me or something stupid like that?”

Hyde visibly stiffened for a moment, then relaxed. “Ha, loved you. You’re such a wuss Forman.” Hyde punched Eric on the arm.

“Hyde man, I was just joking. Don’t get your panties in a bunch.” Eric laughed nervously, a habit he had picked up from his mother.

“I knew that man, you’re the one who keeps talking about it.” Hyde was clearly still uncomfortable, but Eric let the subject drop.

“Well, anyway man, goodnight.” Eric headed for the stairs.

“Wait Forman, I…” Hyde stood up quickly. “do you wanna smoke before you hit the sack? It’ll help you get some sleep.”

Eric had been having nightmares the past few nights, and he had told Hyde about them in the hopes that they would disappear if he talked about them. Unfortunately, it seemed to kick the nightmares into overdrive.

“Actually… yes” Eric replied, eager to get some much-needed rest. Hyde went into his room in the back of the basement and came back with a joint. The two sat back down in their respective seats, passing the joint back and forth between them.

“You know, my mom really treats you like another son.” Eric said as he took a hit off the joint. “I heard her talking on the phone with someone about her sons.” Eric smiled to himself, glad that Kitty had accepted Hyde with open arms.

“Man, its crazy. Who would have thought that I’d be a fucking Forman.” Hyde laughed to himself, taking a drag and passing the joint back to Eric.

“You’re telling me”

Eric felt himself getting relaxed, holding the smoke from the joint in his lungs for as long as he could. After being so curious about Hyde’s answer to the question that had been bothering him all day, Eric realized just how bad the answer had been stressing him out. The weed mellowed him out, relieving his body of the stress that it had been holding all day. It mellowed him out so much that he almost forgot about Hyde’s reaction to his joke about falling in love with him that day. Almost.

“Hey Hyde”

“Yeah Forman?”

“Why did you stick around, I mean seriously. I know that you liked being cared for by my mom, but its not like she’s the one that became your best friend. Why hang out with me? I mean, I was getting my ass kicked by a girl.”

Hyde didn’t answer, just glanced nervously at Eric as he took another long drag off the joint, eventually releasing the smoke in his mouth in small rings.

“Hyde, I’m serious. I thought you were done with this “Oh, I’m Hyde and I’m a frizzy haired robot” bullshit.” Eric imitated Hyde in the only way Eric was capable of imitating anyone, dorkily.

“Why do you care man, I’m your friend now aren’t I? Why is it so important to you?”

Why was it so important to Eric? His relaxed mood immediately shifted into paranoia. Eric glanced at Hyde and could see that Hyde knew that Eric was no longer zen.

“Look man, I’m sorry. I tried to relax you, so you wouldn’t have nightmares, and here I am making you all paranoid. Its just that we’ve never talked about why I hung around your lanky ass. And the truth is something that you don’t want to know, so just leave it Forman.”

Leave it? What did he mean that the truth was something that he didn’t want to know? To be fair, Eric hadn’t been very truthful to Hyde lately anyway. Truth be told, he wasn’t having nightmares. Not in the sense that he was seeing monsters in his sleep, but that he was having dreams that weren’t right. He had been dreaming about Hyde. Nothing dirty, not all the time anyway. The dreams varied every night, from stupid little romantic gestures to full blown sex dreams about Hyde. But Eric hadn’t told Hyde that, he had lied and told him some bullshit story about monsters chasing him. And he had only told Hyde about the nightmares because Hyde had woken him up from a nap that Eric had been taking on the couch in the basement. Hyde had told him that he was mumbling in his sleep, and that he had seemed panicked. Truth be told, dream Hyde had just leaned in to kiss Eric. The dream had felt so real that Eric had thought that it was happening. When Hyde had woken him, it rattled Eric so bad that he must have looked like he’d had a terrible nightmare.

“Hyde”

“I said drop it Forman” Hyde’s voice was gruff, clearly telling Eric not to push any further on the topic.

“Whatever man” Eric said getting up and heading for the stairs.


	3. Truths

The next morning, Hyde was already sitting at the breakfast table when Eric made his way into the kitchen. Sitting in his usual chair, Eric busied himself with assembling his plate, being careful not to even glance in Hyde’s direction. It was a Saturday, which meant that Eric was going to have to be creative about keeping his distance from Hyde. After their conversation last night, Eric got the sense that Hyde wanted to be left alone, something Eric was only happy to provide as he had had another dream about Hyde. Eating in silence, Eric made sure to eat quickly, wanting to get in and out of the kitchen as soon as possible. Kitty, on the other hand, had other ideas.

“Eric honey, slow down. I do not want your tummy to get upset.” Eric rolled his eyes at his plate but slowed down.

“Now, how about after you boys finish your breakfast, you go and tidy up that basement. It’s a mess down there.” Kitty said.

“Yes mom” “Yes Mrs. Forman” the boys said in unison. Eric reluctantly finished his meal, noticing that Hyde was also done eating as well. They both got up and headed for the basement stairs, Eric in front, racing down the stairs. Hyde took the steps slowly, as if dreading being alone with Eric just as much as Eric dreading being alone with Hyde. They cleaned in silence, both taking care not to cross paths. When the basement was tidy, well, tidy for them, Eric quickly went to the stairs. He tried a quick wave goodbye before starting up the steps, but Hyde spoke, stopping Eric in his tracks.

“Forman, I’m sorry about last night. You don’t have to avoid me just because I got a little ticked.” But the truth was, Eric did have to avoid him. All the time he was spending with Hyde must be why he was dreaming about him.

“I’m not avoiding you” Eric said, knowing that Hyde knew that he was lying.

“Look man, I’ve just been having a tough time lately. I didn’t mean to snap. You’re just trying to help, and I know that, but its not always easy to talk about stuff like that.

Stuff like that? Hyde had been spilling his guts to Eric ever since that first week that he’d moved in.

“Hyde, not to be a dick or anything, but you haven’t exactly seemed to have been struggling about talking about anything with me for a while now.”

Hyde laughed nervously, apparently, he’d been picking up some of Kitty’s quirks as well.

“I guess talking about you with you is where I get weird. Its not like we talk about how we feel about each other, we just know. So why does it matter why I stuck around in the first place?”

Eric understood that. He knew that Hyde cared about him, and that Hyde knew that Eric cared about him. But they never outright said all that cheesy, mushy stuff out loud. Only, it wasn’t just friendship anymore for Eric. Not that he wanted Hyde to know that, which is why he said, “It doesn’t really matter I guess.”

Hyde smiled, relief visible in his face. Hyde gestured to the couch, indicating that Eric should sit. As Eric moved to sit, Hyde took his own seat by the washer and dryer.

“So, when do you think those idiots will show up?” Hyde said. As if called, Kelso and Fez came through the basement door. The day passed normally, the group sitting around the tv, teasing and joking with each other. Eric smiled, happy that things were back to normal.

As the day wound down, Eric found himself in the basement, alone again with Hyde. They sat in comfortable silence, watching tv.

”You know, I could use a little extra help getting to sleep again tonight.” Eric said, knowing that Hyde was always up for a smoke. Hyde smirked, and went to grab his stash. When he returned, he did something quite unusual, he plopped down next to Eric on the couch.

“Figured this way we wouldn’t have to reach to pass to each other.” Hyde said, packing the bowl of the bong that they had newly acquired. Grabbing the lighter from his pocket, Hyde lit the bowl and sucked in. The smoke filled the apparatus, and as Hyde lifted the bowl from the down-stem, and the smoke entered his lungs. Hyde passed the bong to Eric, bowl still lit. Eric took a big rip from the bong and passed it back to Hyde. They passed the bong back and forth until the bowl was cashed. Feeling the effects of the drug, the two boys relaxed into the couch, both wondering if they would be able to move from their respective spots on the couch.

“That’s some good shit man” Eric said, sinking impossibly lower into the cushions.

“Leo got some new supply in”

“Praise that man”

“Amen to that. Feeling better then?” Hyde asked, already knowing the answer.

“Oh yeah”

“Hey Forman, about the question you asked me yesterday…”

Eric tensed, thinking that they were just letting the subject drop.

“…yeah”

“Well, truth is…” Hyde fell quiet. Eric glanced over and saw that Hyde had taken off his sunglasses at some point. Knowing that Hyde was being serious, Eric straightened up and turned his body in Hyde’s direction. Hyde was looking at his lap, not meeting Eric’s gaze. They sat in silence, Eric waiting for Hyde to speak. Finally Hyde looked up from his lap, meeting Eric’s gaze. Sighing deeply, Hyde spoke again.

“Truth is…” Hyde never finished his sentence. Instead, he leaned over and kissed Eric. It was quick, just a slight peck on the lips. Hyde spoke again.

“Truth is, I did fall in love with you that day. I know we were only 9, but I knew from the moment I reached to help you up off the ground. Our eyes met, and, I don’t know man, but something inside me shifted. Like, I knew that whatever bullshit you got yourself into, that I wanted to be there with you.” Hyde stared at Eric, searching his face, waiting for the reaction that he knew would come. Instead, Eric started laughing.

“What the fuck man?” Hyde said.

“I’m sorry, it’s just, that so cheesy man.”

“Forman, why are you not freaking out on me? I just told you that I’m in love with you.”

“That’s impossible,” Eric said, “I’m asleep, aren’t I?”

“What, no. What the hell are you talking about?”

Eric had dreamed of a moment similar to this one. The idea that Hyde was actually in love with him was impossible.

“Seriously Hyde, stop fucking with me.”

“I’m not fucking with you, I’m serious. What do you mean you’re dreaming Eric?”

Hyde said his name, he hadn’t called him Forman.

“I mean, you being in love with me is impossible. I’ve had dreams like this before, but that’s all they are, dreams.”

Eric watched Hyde carefully, waiting for a response.

“You’ve had dreams about this?”

“Yep, those “nightmares” I told you about? Not so nightmarish.” It was Hyde’s turn to laugh.

“Does this mean that you like me too then?” Steven waggled his eyebrows playfully, teasing Eric. A blush crept onto Eric’s face, and he nodded silently.

“Unbelievable, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Seriously Hyde? Probably the same reason why you hadn’t told me before. But why tell me now Hyde? I thought you could hold your smoke better than this.”

“Shut up you idiot, its only because you asked me why I stuck around. I’ve been pretending not to like you for 8 years. And then you had to go and drag my feelings back up.”

“So just to get this straight, you like me and I like you?”

“That about sums it up.” And with that Hyde leaned in to kiss Eric again.


End file.
